Bush says finance measures starting to work

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Bush said Saturday that the "extraordinary measures" the United States has taken to help the nation's economy are beginning to take effect and that without them the country could have gone into a depression greater than the Great Depression.

"Those of you who have followed my career know that I'm a free market person," he said. "Until you're told that if you don't take decisive measures, then it's conceivable that our country could go into a depression greater than the Great Depression," he said.

He added, "So my administration has taken significant measures to deal with a credit crisis and then we worked with Congress to deal with the credit crisis as well, and we're beginning to see some positive results," he said.